This invention relates to an up-and-down extractor hood for a kitchen according to the pre-characterising clause of the main claim.
Hoods of the above-mentioned type usually comprise a portion capable of being arranged near a cooking surface where fumes and/or vapours to be extracted are generated and another fixed portion, placed over said cooking surface and integral with a ceiling or support present above said cooking surface.
For convenience, the “first portion” will indicate the portion integral with the wall and the “second portion” the portion near the cooking surface.
The two portions, which can also be movable in relation to one another, are connected together by a plurality of cables that support the second portion; if the second portion is movable in relation to the first, these cables are subject to the action of an actuator device for their deployment from a support element so as to enable the second portion to be lowered towards the cooking surface and raised up from said surface.
A hood of the type described above is the subject of a previous Italian patent application by the present applicant, filed on 26 Nov. 2009 under No MI2009A002078. In this document, compiled and published as European Patent Application EP2327936, an up-and-down kitchen hood is described wherein the first portion of the hood is integral with a kitchen ceiling and acts as a support for the second portion which has the sole function of extracting, through conventional extraction arrangements contained within said second portion, the fumes and/or vapours produced on the cooking surface. The distance between the first portion and the second portion can be varied and between said portions there may also be a fume duct that can be lengthened or shortened to transfer the fumes and/or vapours extracted by the second portion from the cooking surface towards the first portion.
The latter, in a first embodiment, is connected to a flue to discharge the fumes out of the kitchen where the hood is located. In another embodiment, the first portion operates as an element that reintroduces the air that is extracted from the second portion and reaches said first portion into the kitchen environment, after filtration.
In all of the embodiments of EP2327936, the first portion has no fan or other arrangement for extraction and acts only as a supporting device for the second portion. For this reason, the fumes extracted by the second portion reach the first solely and exclusively by natural convection.
Known hoods are in any case both functional and have a high aesthetic value. They are functional because they come very close to the cooking surface and can extract the fumes and/or vapours from it that are generated during the preparation of food; in the case of a second movable portion, this closeness is achieved only when the extraction function is required.
The above-mentioned hoods also have an aesthetic quality because usually they have particular shapes and characteristics so as not to clearly “bring to mind” their function as extractor hoods; this feature becomes attractive when the hood is not in use and if the second portion is movable, this second portion is brought level with the first one, almost rendering the extractor hood indiscernible.
Known hoods therefore have the necessary cables to support the second portion of the hood, cables which moreover provide power to (or support an appropriate cable to power) a fan located inside said second portion. For this reason these cables have transverse dimensions (or overall dimensions if the above-mentioned cables are wound round them) that are not inconsiderable so as to be clearly visible when the second portion of the hood is brought close to the cooking surface. This represents a drawback from an aesthetic point of view.